With the Attack on Titan anime at long last nearing its finale, fans are reflecting on the characters that have propelled the story to its culmination. Despite an ever-mounting death toll, the main trio of Eren, Armin, and Mikasa has persisted. The debate over whether Eren is a hero or a villain notwithstanding, this tenacious central trio has long been the heartbeat of the show.
But while Mikasa's strength is formidable and Eren's power is terrifying, without Armin they both would have perished. In fact, humanity itself would have suffered countless more casualties. Introduced as a frail and stubborn boy who dreams of the sea, Armin has grown into perhaps the most important character in the show, a hero armed with a shrewd tactical mind and a genuinely good heart.
10 The Struggle For Trost: The Mysterious Titan and The Supply Depot
No character has shown an aptitude for thinking on his feet like Armin. While he isn't immune to trauma, he has the ability to outthink even the worst of circumstances. When Armin is pulled from the jaws of a titan only to watch his best friend be eaten alive, he continues following orders, returning to the rearguard even as he processes his guilt and loss.
Even then, he registers events on the battlefield and adapts, spreading the word that the new aberrant titan, not yet identified as Eren, could be used to reclaim the supply depot from the swarm. Within the depot, Armin devises a successful plan to reclaim supplies from titans who have invaded.
9 The Struggle for Trost: Saving Eren From the Firing Squad
Upon realizing that the mysterious titan is Eren after all, Armin doesn't hesitate to defend his childhood friend. Armin stands between a firing squad and his friends and demands they are spared. Armin knows there's every possibility he will be shot and killed if his words aren't enough to convince the hysterical soldiers that Eren is an asset, not an enemy. But his is a battle of wits, not weapons, and even as the threat increases, Armin does not buckle.
Armin reminds viewers that true courage is not being unafraid. True courage is being terrified and persisting regardless. In one of the most iconic moments from the first season, he makes his demands and gives a salute so "magnificent" that Commander Dot Pyxis stays their execution.
8 The Struggle for Trost: The Boulder and Eren's M0tivation
Dot Pyxis is a seasoned soldier, and it's no surprise that he sees something invaluable in Armin: the makings of a military mind. He uses Armin's plan for Eren to block the hole in the wall. However, Eren proves a loose cannon, and immediately loses his sense of self and becomes incapacitated after he transforms into a titan. The plan is instantly dead in the water.
But as usual, Armin persists. He calculates the exact spot where he can stab Eren's titan form's neck without killing him and cuts through the flesh, waking him up. Armin speaks through the wound, reminding Eren of the sea and his furious thirst to kill the titans. Armin's voice pierces the fog, and Eren comes back to himself. At long last, the plan to plug the wall succeeds, thanks almost entirely to Armin's determination.
7 Assault on Stohess: Identifying Annie
There are few trials in life so harrowing as the betrayal of a friend. Once the survey corps realizes there's a mole in their midst, it's Armin who first deduces that the titan in disguise is Annie. After all, she spared him on the battlefield and used Marco's omnidirectional gear after his demise, proving she had something to do with his death.
Unlike Eren, Armin doesn't act impulsively. Instead of pouncing on Annie immediately, Armin collects intellect and evidence and sets a trap, finally cornering her by asking for her help. Even when the stakes are high, Armin allows his foes to retain their humanity, favoring discussion over violence until the option is utterly exhausted. To this day, this revelation is hard to watch.
6 Armin, Hange, and Clever Deductions
If there's any mind as brilliant as Armin's in the series, it belongs to Hange Zoe. When the two of them begin working together, humanity makes progress against the titans with more momentum than ever before. Hange and Armin separately realize that the walls were sealed using the strength of titans. This realization means that no supplies will need to be transported so long as Eren can seal the wall. While Armin and Hange do not have the full scope of the information they need to execute a plan, namely understanding of how the armor ability works, they accumulate more and more knowledge as they progress, incorporating new finds as they go.
5 Armin as a Decoy, Armin with a Gun
An early joke in the attack on Titan fandom involved confusing Armin with Historia. The two characters admittedly look very similar. Isayama has acknowledged this and is probably winking at fans when Armin disguises himself as Historia to act alongside Jean as decoys during one of Squad Levi's attempts to squirrel Eren and Historia out of harm's way.
The attempt is foiled when Kenny Ackerman's men descend on the moving carriage and Jean becomes paralyzed with fear. Despite heartfelt reservations, Armin acts quickly to protect his friend, shooting and killing another human being for the first time. Traumatizing though this is, as usual, Armin proves adaptable under pressure, saving those around him.
4 Reclaiming Shinganshina: Armin Takes Command
When the corps arrive at Shinganshina to seal the hole in the wall, Armin and Hange's plan at long last comes into fruition. But all is not as it seems, and even before Eren acts Armin realizes an ambush is underway. Erwin places soldiers under Armin's direct orders, reminding him that Armin has already saved countless lives. Despite his apprehension, Armin takes command.
To head off the attack, Armin commands the soldiers to search for hidden hideouts within the walls, certain they're being watched. Armin's suspicions are right on the money, and Reiner appears from a hole in the wall. Though Reiner still does significant damage, it would have been much worse without Armin's foresight.
3 Reclaiming Shingansihna: Armin Negotiates With Bertholdt
Often what makes a hero are not his or her successes, but failure. Though Armin has toughened up significantly since Annie's betrayal, he offers Bertholdt the same chance he offered her. He asks to negotiate rather than resort to violence. Pleading with Bertholdt on a rooftop as though Bertholdt hasn't slaughtered dozens of his friends and companions, Armin asks to talk.
Though this is also a ruse to buy time, Armin's pleas are heartfelt. And despite Bertholdt's repeated threats to kill him, Armin keeps trying, determined as he has always been. The attempt fails, but it speaks once again to Armin's golden character.
2 Reclaiming Shingansihna: Armin's Ultimate Sacrifice
In one of the most harrowing scenes in not just Attack on Titan but any other anime in recent memory, Armin sacrifices himself to help Eren defeat the colossal titan. He has no intention of surviving and no longer believes he will ever see the ocean. In a final act of heroism, he dies painfully to distract Bertholdt. As usual, Armin's plan succeeds. But the cost is devastating, and what follows is the weighing of Armin's life against Erwin's, the most impossible of decisions.
1 Armin and the Future
The anime isn't quite over yet, and while Armin has done much in the manga since gaining titan powers, most of this remains to be seen in the show. It's fair to assume that titan abilities will only add to Armin's value as a warrior, but the goodness of Armin remains inherent in his personality. Whatever else he becomes, he remains the brains and moral compass of the series, clearly more heroic than Eren has ever been. Fans can only hope that this trajectory will continue and that this character gets the ending he so thoroughly deserves, an ocean away from where he started.